Noro Knitting Magazine Issue 7

When I was out doing my last minute Christmas shopping on 23 December – I found the latest issue of the Noro Knitting Magazine.   I did not know it was out yet – it has not been mentioned in any of the newsletters that I get from various companies.

Anyway it is just as good as previous issues - it is full of inspirational patterns.

I like the cover design  - which is an entrelac blanket – but there are several other lovely patterns and interesting articles.  There is an interview with the designer Jenny Watson and another with the Canadian fibre artist Monika Kinner-Whalen who uses Noro for embroidery.  I have done some of this in the past.  It can be interesting to knit something fairly plain and then embroider something complicated on top.  Maybe I will have another go at that in 2016 – I will add it to the list!

My favourite pattern in the magazine is a “modular mitered blanket” knitted in 2 shades of Silk Garden – one multi and one solid.  It is similar to an idea I had a few months ago to use up some of my Kureyon.  My blanket will really be completely different as I intend to use a different yarn, in a different way with a different sized needles and a different number of stitches for each square – but they will both be from garter-stitch modular knitted squares!

In the next few days I intend to draft a list of “things to knit in 2016” – I wonder how many of them I will actually make.

Cardigan for a Little Girl

I am cutting it a bit fine this year – I am still making Christmas presents!  I have just finished a cardigan for the niece/granddaughter of some friends of mine.

It is a Sirdar pattern intended to be used with Snuggly DK – but I have used Robin Bonny Babe.  They are both  manmade but the Robin yarn is much cheaper.   I only needed one 100g ball for a cardigan to fit a 2 year-old.

I have found the knitting a struggle – since I have been ill my tension has been terrible.  The bit that looks the hardest – the edging – was actually the easiest bit to knit.   Now fingers crossed that it fits.

I have one more present to finish but as it won’t be delivered until January – it is not so urgent.  I am looking forward to just knitting – rather than making things for others.

Rowan Brushed Fleece Cardigan

Things have not been going that well recently.  I have been ill for several days and am still trying to carry on as normal.  I don’t even seem to have the energy to knit.  However I have finished this cardigan as a present for my mother.

I had done most of the knitting in October but I hadn’t sewn it together.  The yarn is lovely – Rowan brushed fleece – which is 65% wool, 30% alpaca and 5% polyamide.  This is shade 254.  It is sort of a dull brown – not at all exciting – but I am hoping my mother will like it.  I think I should call it “understated”!

The pattern is a very old one from Littlewoods.  The original design did not have pockets, but Mother likes to have pockets so I have added them to the front hiding them in the pattern. 

Every year I seem to forget how tired and stressed I get in December – note to self: do not knit Christmas presents next year!

Colinette Skye Jumper – Progress Report

I had hoped to have finished this jumper by now but unfortunately I have had to work long hours this week including working on my day off – so I have not made as much progress as I would have liked. 

I have knitted the back as one piece and the front as one piece and then I intend to join the sleeves at the top before adding ribs to the ends.

To give more room under the arms and to finish the neck opening at the front  – I have used triangles.

I thought things were going quite well, but I have realised that when I thought the sleeves were 5 squares long I had not counted the column of squares that end with the triangle – and so the sleeves should be 6 squares long.   However, this is the advantage of modular knitting – I can fix it.  I will add squares to the end of the sleeves before adding the rib.

To end on a more positive note – I am pleased with the colour of the jumper – I think you could call it brown.  I have managed to mix the different skeins quite well and I think I have got enough yarn left to lengthen the sleeves, knit the ribs and the button bands.  Then I will have my usual difficult search for buttons.

Colinette Skye Jumper in Domino Squares

A few years ago I knitted a thick jumper for my mother.  She wanted something very thick to wear on cold winter days.  I had some Colinette Skye in my stash which I used to knit her a jumper.  This year I decided to knit her another one as a present.

I haven’t got a pattern – I had to look at the original jumper and try to work out what I did before.  I thought I had written it down, but apparently not!

Colinette recommends using 4.5mm needles for Skye and so I started off using these, but I quickly decided that the fabric was too thick and so I unravelled and started again using 5mm needles.

Knitting a small “domino” square shows the yarn to the best effect because it has a short colour change sequence.  These squares are 8 + 1 + 8 (17sts). 

This time - I am writing the pattern in rough as I go along and will record it on this blog when it is finished – so that I don’t lose it again.

Autumn Leaves Shawl 2

This week I have been working on several different projects at once.  I wondered why I hadn’t got things finished and then I realised that I knitted 14 poppies on Tuesday and Wednesday.  However, I have finished my Autumn Leaves shawl. 

I decided to just do the diamond shapes with no edging and I left the ends pointed – rather than filling them in with triangles. And no – that was not because I ran out of yarn – I still have a bit left from the 3 balls I bought.  I have been wondering whether to block the shawl.  The purists will say that I should but I quite like the ridged effect of the rib and don’t really want to flatten it.

I have also been finishing off a cardigan for my mother doing the button and button-hole bands – but it will not be completely finished until I can find some buttons for it.  I am hoping I might find some next week when I go to Reading.

I have also been to the sorting office twice this week to collect parcels of yarn.  The first contained some Colinette Fandango which I want to use for a bag.

The second contained some Colinette Skye in a shade called Toasted Macaroon.

I was a bit nervous about opening the second parcel in case I didn’t like the colour.  It can be hard to order yarn online when you have not seen it in a shop.  Anyway – I do like the colour and I have now started knitting a very thick jumper with it – I will write more about this next week.

Autumn Leaves Shawl

I have been working on my Noro Silk Garden Lite shawl.

The pattern is based on a design by Valentina Devine in the Knit Noro Accessories book.   However that design uses 3 balls of my favourite yarn Noro Kureyon and is knitted on larger needles. 

When I got as far as I have in the first photo I decided that I wanted to make the design more L-shaped and so I have unravelled the top central shape.

This is one of the strangest modules that I have ever knitted – it has an even number of stitches and the rib effect is asymmetrical.

At first I thought the modules were too complicated and I would spend all  my time trying to remember which row I was on – but actually I have picked it up quite easily and by the time I was knitting my third module I did not need to refer to the pattern at all.

Shades of Autumn

When I was at Alexandra Palace last week – I fell in love with some more Noro yarn. 

This time it is not Kureyon – it is Silk Garden Lite.  It was the lovely autumn shades that attracted me to it.  It is a mixture of silk, mohair and wool and so is softer than Kureyon.  As it is Silk Garden Lite rather than Silk Garden – it is also thinner.  This shade is no 2129.

I have been thinking of using it for a little shawl – I think I have seen them called shawlettes – I haven’t got very far yet – I cast on and did a couple of rows and then took it out!

When I was last in Oxford I bought some Rowan yarn to make a present for my mother.

It is Rowan Brushed Fleece – which is a mix of merino wool, alpaca and a small amount of polyamide.  This shade is 254.  It is very soft and will make a cosy cardigan.  I was worried that 10 balls would not be enough but I think it will actually be a few balls too many.  I may even have enough for a scarf as well.

I have almost finished the cardigan – but I haven’t found the right buttons yet. 

Knitting & Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace

On Saturday I went to London to the Knitting & Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace. It is about 10 years since I have been.  It is lovely to see everything but I am not very good in crowds.  I decided to go early and queue to get in.  This meant that at least to start with, everywhere is not completely crowded.  I saw lots of lovely things but I am most fascinated by what I don’t do myself – so I love looking at the crochet, the embroidery and the quilts.  The yarn is lovely too but it is very easy to get carried away and spend too much.

Sophie Digard’s work was being exhibited.  I managed to take a few photos of it.

I also visited the Colinette stall to introduce myself.  I have been knitting for Colinette for 2 years now but I have not met any of the staff in person.

The Colinette stall is always very memorable – if you love hand-dyed yarn.  I looked at a lot of yarn but in the end only bought a small amount of Noro from The Laughing Hens Stall.

The Mystery of the Missing Tea Cosy

You can tell from the title that I am a fan of detective fiction.   I was reminded of the fact that one of my tea cosies disappeared, when I looked at a leaflet advertising the Guild of Master Craftsman’s (GMC) latest publications.  GMC are publishing a new compilation of tea cosy patterns called The Big Book of Tea Cozies. The book has one of my tea cosies included in the montage on the front. 

The photo below shows another version of the tea cosy which I knitted for a friend of mine.

I have always liked this pattern.  It was designed especially for GMC’s first tea cosy book (Tea Cozies).  Many of the other designs were competition entries based on Yorkshire – such as my “white roses” design.  However this tea cosy was inspired by my maternal grandmother who taught me to knit.  She enjoyed knitting but she also loved dancing and her favourite colour was turquoise.  GMC called the design “glitter ball” – but it was originally based on a ball gown.

My grandmother also inspired my embroidery and the photo below shows an embroidery which featured her photograph.

To go back to the tea cosy and the title of this post – although some of my tea cosies were returned to me – I don’t have the original “glitter ball” because it “went missing” during the photo shoot.  All I can say is - someone else must have liked it!

Poppies Throw

I have finished my poppies throw.  It took a little longer than I had thought (things always do).  I did manage to finish the other 3 strips by the weekend, but then I took ages fiddling about with the edges.  The problem is that stocking stitch curls up easily.   I looked at the Noro Hearts throw pattern and another Debbie Bliss pattern that I have got for a similar throw – in both cases they only have a narrow edge and both suggest you pick up a lot of stitches.  I decided to pick up less stitches so that the edges would be not curl so much and in the case of the top and bottom – I used smaller needles.

I am pleased with the result – it looks like the idea I had in my head.  In case you are interested in knitting one – I am including the pattern below.  I haven’t filled in the black part at the centre of the poppy because otherwise the lines don’t show up.  Basically at it widest point the centre is 9sts across. 

Poppies Throw Pattern

Yarn: Noro Kureyon  - 2 background shades.  I used 332 for the green squares (approximately 6 balls) and 263 for the brown squares (I used 8 balls of this because I used the orange parts of the balls for the poppies).

Poppy yarns – I used about 8 balls but I used up oddments and in some cases I only used half a ball.  My throw includes the following shades: 124, 204, 319, 277, 326, 272 and 263.

Black centres – again I used lots of odd bits of yarn left over from other projects. 

5mm needles
5mm circular needle
4mm circular needle

I knitted 6 strips of 7 squares.

Using a background shade and 5mm needles cast on 33sts and follow the chart shown below joining colours as necessary.  I used separate balls – so in the middle of the poppy, I was knitting with 5 separate balls.

When I had completed 6 strips I sewed them together using mattress stitch.

Right Side Edging

Using a 5mm circular needle and a background colour, pick up 25-26sts from the side of each square (approximately 176sts) and then work 3 rows in garter stitch.  Cast off. (Repeat for Left Side Edging).

Top Edging

Using a 4mm circular needle pick up and a background colour, pick up 3sts from the top of the side edging and 28sts from the top of each square, and then 3sts from the other side edging.  (approximately 174sts).  Work 5 rows in garter stitch.  Cast off.

Repeat for Bottom Edging picking up stitches from the bottom!

Sew in any ends.

Knitting on the Train

If I am not too cramped, I like to knit on the train.  Obviously I like knitting, but I also find it helps me to stay awake.  I like reading too, but I don’t get through many pages before my eyes start to close.

Although I have been away from home for the last week – I have been working on my poppies throw.  I have decided to knit the squares in strips and so far I have knitted 2 full strips.  It was the third strip that I was knitting on the train yesterday.

Now that I am home again I have laid out all the yarn that I have got so that I can easily decide which colour to use next.

I have also laid out the 2 strips that I have done so far.  Although I have said that I am knitting my third strip – this may end up as my fifth as I am not completely happy with the order of the colours.

As I am still on holiday this coming week – I am hoping to spend more time knitting, but I may have to spend time catching up on other things that have been neglected.  I was thinking - as the throw consists of 6 strips and I have almost finished 3 of them, by this time next week I ought to have almost finished this throw – with just the edging and the darning of ends to do.  It will be interesting to see if that is the case or if I have been distracted by something else.

Some More Noro Kureyon

I have finally finished the jacket I have been making.  I am not sure that the collar is exactly how Debbie Bliss intended it to be but I am happy with it.  I find that knitted garments fall into 2 categories – either I finish them and wear them immediately or I put them in a drawer and never wear them at all.  I finished the jacket on Tuesday morning and then wore it immediately.  

I went to Oxford to visit Oxford Yarn Store, and owner - Karen Draisey took a photo of me wearing it. 

Karen’s shop was full of beautiful yarn and it was lucky that I knew what I wanted (more Kureyon) so I just tried hard to concentrate on that.  It would have been very easy to buy something else as well that I hadn’t intended!

You may have seen the “Hearts” throw that was in Issue 5 of the Noro Magazine (Fall/Winter 2014) –when I saw it I liked it but instead of knitting hearts - I have decided to have a go at knitting poppies.  I have done a little chart on graph paper which I have altered several times.  My first sample is shown below.

I think I am going to take it out and make it a bit narrower.  I originally intended the squares to have more background and less poppy – but I quite like a fairly large poppy.  It is odd that this square looks much smaller than the garter stitch squares I was knitting last week but in fact they are a very similar size.

Another Odd-ball Throw

I am supposed to have finished my Kureyon jacket and I have bought the new yarn for a shawl, but instead of finishing the jacket or starting the shawl, I have started knitting another odd-ball throw. The first square of which is shown below.

I had the idea and I wanted to try it.  I intend to knit 54 squares using 2 colours for each square, trying to avoid having any 2 squares the same.  The yarn is all double knitting and I am using 5mm needles and garter stitch.  I have cast on 71sts for each square, 35 + 1+ 35.

You can see how stressed I have been this week because instead of doing knitting that required any kind of thinking – I have just been knitting garter stitch squares!

Even while I have been knitting these squares, I have been thinking of other designs that will help me use up all the odd bits of yarn in my stash.  When I have finished this throw I will give it to charity.

I still hope to finish off the jacket off this week when I get to a shop to buy some buttons  but I had better keep my eyes shut as I pass all the new yarns!

Going out to buy Buttons

On Tuesday I decided to go out to buy some buttons for my jacket.  I have almost finished it.  I have knitted the button-band and was just about to start the button-hole band and then all that is left is sort out the length of the sleeves.  I have short arms so I usually need to make them shorter than the pattern suggests.  It is odd but most pattern writers seem to think that your arms get longer, the larger the size you are – but this is not the case – if you are large – you may need wider sleeves, but not necessarily longer ones.  After knitting for my mother and sister, I have found out that short arms is a family characteristic.

I normally buy buttons from Banbury Sewing Centre – and I went in there, but I got distracted by the new yarns that they have got in.  I did eventually get to the buttons at the back of the shop – but I couldn’t decide what to buy – I think I will have to finish the jacket first and then take it in and place various buttons on it to see which ones look right.

I didn’t manage to leave without buying some more yarn!

I particularly like the Stylecraft Cabaret.  I think I have seen it advertised in one of the magazines.  I want to make a triangular shawl out of one large module – and so I decided to choose some yarns for this project.  The Sirdar Divine that I used for my wrap was particularly lovely – so I have chosen 2 more shades of that to try – a red and a green. 

Wasn’t I supposed to be finishing those jackets on my spare bed?!

Noro Kureyon Jacket – Progress Report

I am still knitting the Noro Kureyon jacket that I started last week.  I have knitted the back and the 2 fronts and I am now working on the sleeves.

I decided to knit both sleeves at the same time so that I can make sure that they end up similar.  I was going to say “the same” – but that is very difficult to achieve with this yarn – I just want to make sure that each sleeve has a similar number of stripes and that the colour changes on approximately the same row.

With Noro yarn you can either try to achieve a match or you can go completely the other way and make sure the sleeves and fronts of a jacket are not similar at all.

I am glad that I had so much yarn because I have found that several balls have knots in them.  This wouldn’t matter so much if the ball then continued with the same colour but it doesn’t.  I can understand that the yarn might break in production but I don’t understand why it isn’t knotted at that point instead of attaching a completely different colour.

I want to try to finish this jacket before I get bored and start something else.  I still have 3 partly-finished jackets on the bed in my spare room – I don’t want this to be another one.

I read in the latest issue of Simply Knitting magazine that designer Rita Taylor likes to knit while listening to sport on the radio.  This week I have been doing the same.  If the sport is on the radio – it is being described to you and so you can concentrate on your knitting without having to look at the screen!

Noro Kureyon Jacket

About 3 years ago I bought 22 balls of Noro Kureyon in Shade 242 – which is black, grey, red, green and brown.

I intended to use the yarn for a coat using a Sally Melville pattern.  However, I didn’t start it and now I think I probably wouldn’t wear it – so I have found another pattern for a jacket instead.  It is a Debbie Bliss pattern from her book called Home.  I was surprised to find garments in this book – as the title suggests cushions and throws etc.  It does have those as well, but it has a few clothes.

I have started the back.  It is double moss stitch and I may take it out yet, but at the moment I am happy with it.  I was a bit worried about the sizes – I was going to do the middle size of 3, but I have decided to make it a couple of inches smaller – and so I am now doing a size which is larger than the smallest size, but not so large as the middle size!  This means I will have to alter the fronts correspondingly.  I am terrible – I can’t leave a pattern alone. 

Shell-Shaped Modular Wrap – Finished Version

This week I have finally finished my shell-shaped modular wrap. 

To recap – this wrap was knitted in Sirdar Divine and was based on a pattern for a baby’s blanket which I found in a booklet that was free with Simply Knitting magazine.

In the end I used slightly more than 4 balls of the yarn.  I knitted 4 rows of garter stitch at each end of the wrap to finish it off. I did think about adding an edging to the sides because the irregularity of the yarn makes them a bit wiggly – but in the end I decided that an edging wouldn’t improve them.

Knitting Mysteries by Maggie Sefton

I love yarn, I love knitting, but I also love books.  This week I have been reading the latest of Maggie Sefton’s knitting mysteries that is available in paperback: Yarn Over Murder.

I quite enjoyed it, but it wasn’t as good as some of her other books as there was not enough knitting in it for my liking!

When I finished it – I went back to the beginning of the series and started re-reading some of the early books in the series.  The first one is Knit One, Kill Two which is excellent.

Some of the books have great titles.  I think Maggie Sefton ran a competition to come up with suggestions for future book titles.

In the stories, the heroine: Kelly, lives in a cottage just across the street from a yarn store – wouldn’t that be wonderful?

I am still knitting my wrap, but it is nearly finished – I know I said I would have finished it by now but this week I seem to have been reading about knitting instead of doing it!!

Yarn at John Lewis in Reading

On the second Saturday of most months the Reading branch of the Knitting and Crochet Guild meet up at RISC in London Street.   On 11 July I went to my first meeting in ages.  Last month I know I said that the yarn sellers of Reading were disappointing but that didn’t stop me visiting them.

John Lewis should be praised for continuing to have a Haberdashery department when most of the other department stores closed theirs years ago.  This month I visited the Reading branch and bought the yarn shown below.

It is 9 x 50g balls of Wendy Merino wool in a dark blue denim shade.  I know it isn’t very exciting but it was in the sale at less than half price.  Although I wasn’t exactly intending to buy it – I have been thinking about buying some yarn to use as a main colour for a couple of Jo Sharp designs that I would like to knit which would use up some of my yarn mountain.

Otherwise I have still been thinking about knitting rather than working on any of my projects.  I am knitting for Colinette at the moment and the project is commercially confidential as it hasn’t been published yet – so I had better not post photos of what I have been knitting.

Hopefully next week I will be able to show you a finished mauve and orange wrap.

Thinking about Knitting

This week I have done some knitting but I have done more thinking about knitting!

I am still knitting my stole/scarf that I have been working on for the last few weeks.  Today I bought a fifth ball of the yarn.   However while I have been knitting I have been arranging balls of Fandango on the floor trying to imagine what they will look like when knitted.

I was going to do a brick wall design with shades of brown  and so I selected the balls shown above – but I think that could look a bit dull – so I will probably have to use a few more vibrant colours. 

I will have to knit some rectangles and see what they look like.   I want the bag to look different – not like any of the others I have done.

I have been thinking about knitting a couple of cardigans as well.  I have looked through lots of old pattern books and found a couple of lovely designs in a Jo Sharp book.  I will add them to the list of things to do when I have more time.